Make Learning Your Own

How Are Powerful and Meaningful Social Studies Units Constructed?

I created a visual map to outline Chapter 8 of Sunal's Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle Grades: A Constructivist Approach using Cacoo. I think that this activity was helpful in organizing the various ideas in this chapter. I would use this in my classroom so that my students aren't overwhelmed with paragraphs of information. If I present something like this to my class, I would follow the map one box at a time and check every few steps to be sure everyone is following along. I may ask certain students to read a box and tell what they think that sentence of idea means. Additionally, I could ask my students to create one of these on their own instead of simply highlighting a reading. This is a good way for me to assess their comprehension of a reading and to recognize how they organize information.

**Click on the web picture to enlarge it. 

Cooperative Learning:

This week I learned so much about cooperative learning that I never knew before! Sunal's chapter was informative; however, Dr. Smirnova's  collaborative learning jigsaw puzzle project was excellent. Having set responsibilities for group work made this activity fun and made me feel like an important part of the group. This is a feeling I would love to give my students. They each would have a role to play in the group assignment and no role would be more important than another. Additionally, having students become an expert on a topic is a great idea. This gives them a motivation and purpose for learning the material as they will use their expertise to teach other group members. Along with learning and experimenting with a cooperative learning practice, I also learned how to create a cooperative learning lesson plan and how it is different from an inquiry lesson or a direct instruction lesson.

 Click here to view the MSMC Cooperative Learning Lesson Plan Frame.

This is extremely helpful as Dr. Smirnova has highlighted the important social skill components of this type of lesson plan.

 

 

 



Instruction and Assessment Go Hand in Hand

Creating this graph and reading Sunal's chapter 14 helped me learn a lot about the forms of assessment. This chapter was extremely informative for me considering I am not extremely knowledgeable of assessment. Upon reading Sunal’s chapter on authentic assessment, I have learned the three main types of assessment and decided which ones I should utilize in my future teaching. Since my main concern is my students’ learning, I will implement formative assessment. I like to think of this assessing as “benchmarking”. This means that I would be checking on students’ progress towards the learning objective which would result with me correcting any issues as they go along. It is better to find the issue as soon as possible and correct it rather than having the issue effect the rest of a student’s learning. In addition, formative assessment could help me modify my teaching strategies to fit the needs of the student.




Another strategy in assessment that I would like to use in my teaching is the self-assessment tactic. This form of assessment can be used in the earliest grades with collaborative goal setting. I think it is neat how the students can create their own learning goals so that they know what is expected of them. Students help decide what is to be learned through a task and what makes a complete assignment. I could create a checklist with learning goals stated as questions and encourage students to refer to them when needed at specified reflective times. I like the idea of a student-led conference in which students present the information from these assessments and show their work and progress to family members and teachers who ask questions.

Life in Colonial America Artifact Bag

For my artifact bag, I chose to go with a theme of a young colonial girl. The artifacts include a dress, bonnet, and a corn husk doll. This combination can give students a good idea of what the lifestyle was like during colonial times. It may be difficult for students to visualize life long ago when they are so accustomed to life today in the 21st century. Girls can especially contrast their dress and belongings with the contents of this artifact. Boys can contrast what they have observed girls wear and have with the contents of the article.

Click here to view Group A's artifact bags, books, and websites. :)

It is the Stories Behind the Facts that Make History Memorable and Real

The most important aspect of teaching any subject is to make it interesting! Engaging the students with a variety of instruction and activity is the key to a successful teacher. This is especially true for social studies which would otherwise seem mundane and drab.

The class was asked to take a guess on percentages based on the relationship between the way we learn and the amount of information that is retained in our memory.

How We Learn	My Guess	Actual Data
When we read/ Reading	20%	10%
When we hear/ Lecture	20%	5%
When we see & hear/ Audiovisual	40%	20%
Demonstration	30%	30%
When we discuss/ Discussion Group	60%	50%
When we do things	70%	75%
When we teach others	90%	95%

It is amazing to me how ineffective simply reading or lecturing is for remembering a concept. Despite our designated "learning types" this data holds true. You may believe you learn best through lecture; however, you may be unaware of your true potential if you were to do instead of hear. Learning this information made me seriously think about my future lesson in my classroom. I plan to incorporate a variety of learning approaches in my class with an emphasis on actions and discussions with optimal participation resulting in wonderfully intelligent learners who can also teach the topic. Teaching others results in twice the learning! :)

 

 

 
Why Should We Study History?

 

I was assigned to answer the following objective for homework:

Identify four goals and purposes for the study of history.

 

There are many reasons why we would study history both in schools and in general. I have provided several reasons through the program Prezi.

 
 

 

http://prezi.com/e7-oedpww8wv/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

 

 

 

 

 

Bring A Period of History to Life:

This is the most interesting social studies activity I have ever discovered. I enjoyed this activity during class which means that a student would love this just as much. Getting a surprise artifact that has to do with the lesson is meaningful. Once the students get their hands on an artifact, the lesson becomes real. A hands-on activity that can convey an abstract concept is essential is the student finding meaning in the concept.

 

I have made a list of guidelines regarding the use of artifact bags that I plan to utilize.

 

 



The New Technological Vision

 

This week we learned how to create these awesome blogs! I'm excited to take ownership of my learning through my blog entries. I will enhance my learning through these reflections and I hope you enjoy reading!

Dr.Smirnova requested that our blog entry include a video called "Vision of Students of Today".

 

The vision: "Students will use engaging technologies in collaborative, inquiry-based learning environments with teachers who are willing and able to use technology's power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions, and new information."

 

This video is really interesting and engaged me immediately. It put into perspective how much technology is a part of the lives of children in today's society. Even reading is done using ipads and ipods; or, books are read to kids through these devices.

 

63% of teachers never let their students create something with new technology. This is a staggering statistics because technology is in your face everywhere you time. As times change, the classroom should change with it. Students should learn to share information and communicate with each other using the devices they already have at their fingertips.

 

 

Not Your Typical Introductions

Day 1:

Coming into class on my first day of social studies methods I was extremely nervous. Simply looking at my schedule was enough to get me flustered; after all, why would there be education course taking place in Aquinas Hall? Besides this, I had heard a lot of intimidating rumors about this course. This course is said to be the "hardest of all the education courses". If this wasn't scary enough, the professor is also in charge of Kappa Delta Pi, an education honor society of which I am a member. Gulp.
 

Typically, education classes commence with ice-breakers that we could utilize in our classrooms in the future. After being in these similar courses for a few semesters, we students have become accustomed to this routine. These become so repetitive that I always have a speech ready to introduce myself in class. 

“Hi, my name is Madison Turner. I am a commuter from Goshen, NY. My major is mathematics with certification in childhood and special education.”

 I always come prepared with this line up for the first day of class; however, Dr. Smirnova switched the routine up immediately. As soon as we walked into class we were told to make nametags and then write about our ideas of social studies. What is social studies? How should it be taught? How should it be learned? Recall your favorite social studies teacher... what were his/her strategies? In answering these questions I was already learning... that I have a lot to learn.

Instead of sharing a prepared introduction to the entire class, partner discussion was implemented. The big twist came in when the instructor asked us to share information about our partner’s views on social studies. I think this a great lesson in learning how to listen as a teacher. Teachers need to be great listeners as their communication skills are vital. Teachers can listen to each other to improve their instructional techniques and teachers can listen to students and their parents to optimize student success.

 

Day 2:

 It was only the second day and already our routine has been altered. Ms Tiffany Davis, the curriculum librarian, introduced herself with a welcoming introduction. I was extremely excited to learn about resources that I never knew about in the library. I visit this library more than any other location on campus and it was on this day that I learned how clueless I was to the resources right in front of me.
 

The best and most useful information I learned on this day was, by far, the existence of the Kidspiration Program. This program is truly a gift to all teachers who strive to create a well-made visual presentation for young students. It could also be a great tool for students with learning disabilities or English language learners due to the programs allowance to visually express ideas. From the moment Ms. Davis introduced the program to the class, I could not stop trying different subjects and formats I could create. I was so excited about this program that I researched videos on its operation and came across this video that I hope will help other people who are new to the program:



 

Day 3:

Technology overload! Today several students presented projects that introduced themselves while, at the same time, utilized a different program. I really enjoyed viewing everyone's presentations... all of my classmates did a great job! I created a Google doc PowerPoint presentation to introduce myself to the class. This was really fun to make. It was easy to learn how to use because it has the same capabilities of Microsoft PowerPoint. What makes Google doc better than Microsoft PowerPoint is the fact that Google doc PowerPoint saves your progress automatically. You will no longer have to worry about saving a document. Additionally, wherever you can access your Google drive, you can access Google PowerPoint. Being that this program is so convenient, it was a pleasure for me to be able to use it and learn about its many capabilities.  Click here to view my About Me project.

 

My favorite program that I learned about and have now used is the online graffiti creation. I think it's so cool and can be used to display many pictures with various effects and backgrounds. It would give students a lot of room to discuss their image and its meaning. Students would have fun creating this just as I did. :)